Packing-table.



A. L. BAUSMAN & D. C. GOTTREAL.

PACKING TABLE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 31, 1911. v

- Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

2 SHEETS-8111111131.

A TTOANIEV.

IV I T N (L SS ILQi A. L. BAUSMAN & D. C. GOTTREAL.

PACKING TABLE.

APPLICATION FILED 001.31, 1911. 1,023,103. Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

LVVENTORJ',

wwwwm' WAN pick out the different to pick out the diflerent keep up toUNITED sTaT s PATENT OFFICE.

ALONZO LINTON BAUSIMAN, or CHICOPEE, AND DANIEL'C. coTTn EAL, OFSPRINGFIELD,

MASSACHUSETTS, assrenons To THE NATIONAL EQUIPMENT COMPANY, OF SPRING-FIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATI ON OF MASSACHUSETTS.

PACKING-TABLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed pctober 31, 1911. Serial No. 657,848.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALONZO'LINTON BAUSMAN and DANIEL C. COTTREAL, bothcitizens of the United States of America, residing at Chicopee andSpringfield,- respectively, in the county of Hampden and State ofMassachusetts, have jointly invented new and useful Improvements inPacking-Tables, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a packing table of a kind particularly usefulto aid in packing candy.

- The structure embodied in this invention may be used for many purposesbesides the particular one referred to.

In packing assorted candies and the like, the common method is for eachpacker to kinds of candy in regular rotation from a suitable receptaclewhich contains the candies in certain definite proportions. Itis-desirable for the manufacturer to have his product uniform, andheretofore there has been much trouble because the packers can not bedepended upon kinds of candy in the proper way. Some kinds of candyintended for the mixture in each box would be slighted andafter thepackers have been working several hours atthe usual method of packing,it has been found that the'prodnot in each box is not the kind of amixture desired. The result is clearly undesirable, not only as tothe'product but also because the manufacturer can not definitelydetermine just how much candy of each grade he can safely make up toyield a. given number of boxes with the proper proportion of each gradein the mixture.

It is the object of this invention toavoid the difliculties referred toin packing assorted candies.

Another object of the invention is to provide a structure which willrequire the packers to work at a uniform speed and'which will afford ameans of checking up the work If any packer neglects to of the packers.

the required rate of work. this fact will immediately be apparent.

Other objects of the invention will appear in the detailed descriptionof the invent-ion and in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of this applicatiom-Figure 1 is'a top planview of each tray, so that, as can the apparatus. view taken on the line2-2 of Fig. '1 looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 3 is asectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an end view ofthe apparatus assembled. Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the mechanismdirectly involved for transferring the trays on the outward travel ofthe endless chain to the inward travel.

The apparatus comprises, among other things, a device operated to carrya series of trays along beside a stationary table by an endless chain.The trays are adapted, with suitable mechanism, to contain articles tobe packed andalways to remain with one side up while traveling aroundwith an endless chain.

Referring to the drawings in detail, a is a motor adapted to drive thesprocket wheels 0 suitably mounted through the gear connections, clearlyshown in Figs. 2 and 4. The wheels 0, together with sprocket-wheels (Z.carry endless chains 6, (one on each side of the apparatus) which areadapted to operate any desired number of trays. The trays a Z2 0 etc.,are provided with front and rear rollers, as shown, which are supportedon the tracks g, best seen in Fig. 3. The front rollers have their axlesextended to cooperate with the bearings q carried by the chain (see Fig.5). These front rollers to this extent differ from the rear rollers ofbe seen from the the rear rollers, when they leave (Fig. 2) can becarried, togethler t 1c drawing, the track 9 with the rear end of thetray, between two endless chains shown, the lowertrack g (the tracksbeing mounted suitably, as shown in the frame) by mechanism now to bedescribed.

On the shaft r is a sprocket-wheel (see Fig. 5) which, together with awheel mounted on the shaft m in the frame, carries a chain. This chaintransmits motion from the driving shaft to the sprocket-wheels looselymounted on the bearing shaft on.

Itis to be understood, as is clear from Fig. at of the drawings, thateach sideof the apparatus is similar and the side opposite that shown inFig. 5 has the identical arrangement of mechanism as that shown in Fig.5. I

The shaft on has mounted fast thereon a cam which operates on two leversa pivot- Patented Apr.-9, 1912.

Fig. 2 is a side, sectional and passed onto 'ally mounted on oppositesides of the arm which is loosel the cam and the outer ends arehook-shaped to cooperate with the slots Z in each end of described.

the arm 0 to grip the extending pins k of the rollers at the rear ofeach. tray, and thus hold the rear of each tray as it leaves the uppertrack 9 until that end of the tray has been placed on the lower track 9in a way to be later described.

The mechanism-by which the trays are transferred from the lower trackto. the upper one is shown best in Fig. 2 and differs in certainrespects from the mechanism just The shaft p is mounted in the frame.outside the space inclosed by the chain c. A chain-gear connection, asshown, transmits motion from the'wheel d to the shaft p. It will benoticed that the front ends of the trays on their outward passage arethe rear ends on their rearward pas-1 The shaft p has sage, and viceversa. mounted thereon an arm 8 similar to the arm 0 on the shaft m butdiffering therefrom in that there are no levers n, n mounted thereon. Asemi-circular track 7:. cooperates with the arm 8 to pass the ends ofthe trays from the lower to the upper track. The arm 8,

as shown, has slots provided in its ends to cooperate with thepins ofthe rollers not fastened to the chain e.

- k, the cam, which is desi The operation of the apparatus, so fardescribed, is as follows: The tray 0 is pulled along the upper track bthe endless chains. When the forward en of the tray reaches thecircumference of the wheel a and is about to pass from the outward tothe" rearwardatravel of the chains, the slots the arms 0, one on eachside of the apparatus, engage the pins 7: of the rear rollers. The shaftm is so geared to the shaft 0" and the trays are so placed along thechains that the engagement of the pins is will take place at exactly theright moment. At the'same time that the slots 1 cooperate with the pinsed for the purpose, will force the hooke ends of the pivotally mountedlevers n around the pins to hold them securely in the slots. The cam isdesigned so that the hooked ends of the levers will release the pinsonly after the arm 0 in its rotation has carried the rear end of thetray from the top track 9 to the bottom track 9.

As can be easily drawings, the passage of the tray from the top to thebottom track takes place without turnin the tray over. The same side of,the tray remains the upper side at all times. As may also be seen fromthe drawing, the rear rollers of the tra are kept on a substantiallyhorizontal ine with the front seen from Fig. 5 .of the continually theapparatus is designed so thatrollers so that the tray in its passage.notonly remains with the same side up bu also remainslevel. Theoperation of this art of the apparatus may be seen so clearly from thedrawings that more detailed description is thought to be unnecessary.

When a tray passes from the bottom to the top track, the slots in thearm s engage the pins is (see Fig. 2) and the rotation of the arm forcesthe rollers around the track k while the rollers fastened to the chainpass around the wheel and keep the tray on a horizontal line: The smalltrack g afi'ords. a bridge for supporting the rear rollers for thepassage from the releasing position of the arm 8 to the track g.

From the operation described and from :the' drawings itcan be-seen thatthe trays pass around the cycle of operations with the same side alwaysup and always level. It may be also seen that the arms 11. and s areoperating with the trays. As the arms finish with one 'tray by releasingit from one end for its passage along the track the opposite ends engagethe next succeeding tray to aid in its transfer from track to track. Allthe available space for the trays carried by the endless chains, whichit is possible to use, is used.

The apparatus is used for packing as follows: The packers sit on eachside of the table 2' (Fig. 1). The trays, in their travel, passalongbetween the packers, each tray having a certain kind and numberof piecesof candy, or other .article to be packed, the kinds in each tray usuallydiffering from the other trays. The number of pieces in each tray isdetermined by the number of packers working. These pieces, inproper-number, aree placed'son eachatray by an operator sitting at theend A; As each tray passes a packer, that packer must take the propernumber of pieces therefrom and as the tray is traveling at a uniform.speed past each packer, the speed of packing is regulated. If any theproper share from each tray then the tray will return to the operatorat'the end packer neglects to take A still containing one or more ofthearticles to be packed. A check is thus obtained on the work ofthepackers which immediately gives notice when the packing is notprogressing as desired. Where notice is given as soon as trouble arises,the trouble can be easily located and the mixture of the goods packed bekept uniform.

The results obtained from the apparatus described are,. increasedattention to the wor on the part of the packers, and a meansof insuringthe uniformity of ackages, such as mixed chocolates and the like.

The apparatus may be used for any purpose where it is desired to passcontainers around with an endless belt while keeping them uniformlylevel and right side up.

tray being fastened to said chains and the other end of each tray'beingsupported on said tracks, rotating arms mounted in said frame, gearconnections between said arms and said driving means, said arms beingarranged to support the free ends of said trays when they leave thetracks at one level and carry them to the tracks at another level whilethe other ends of the trays pass from one set of tracks to the other bymeans of the chains,- said arms making a half revolution whilesaid'chains change from theoutward to the inward path of their cycle ofoperations, all arranged so that the trays remain level at all times.

2. A packing table comprising one upper and one lower set of tracks, thelower set terminating atone end in a semi-circular track, an endlesschain, and sprocketwheels mounted in the frame, the greater art of saidchain arranged in close proximity -to said tracks, trays with rollersadapted to ride on said tracks, one end of each tray bein fastened tothe chain and ingfreely rotatable, arms mounted on the frame with gearconnections to the sprocket-wheels, thetrays and arms so arranged thatat each half revolution of the arms they will engage the free endof'onetray" and transfer it from one set of tracks to the other,mechanism connected with some of the'arms to cooperate in the transferof the trays, the other arms cooperating with the semi-circular portionof the lower tracks, all for the purpose de scribed, and a table portionmounted on said frame in close proximity "to which the' trays areadapted to pass.

3. A packingtable comprising a frame, an endless 'conveyer mountedtherein, driving means therefor, trays, one end of each tray fastened tosaid conveyer and the other end of each tray free from the conveyer andsupported by the frame, rotatable members arranged to support the freeend' of a tray and transfer said free end from one level of the frame toanother. level while the conveyer transfers the other end of same traybetween the two levels of the frame.

'ALONZO Y LINTON BAUSMAN.

DANIEL C. COTTREAL.

Witnesses: HARRY W. BOWEN, FRANKLIN G. NEAL;

